Do you want my number or do you want to connect?

February 15, 2012

Do you want to really connect?

@gregcantyfuzion is following you – Great, that’s another follower and your numbers are building. Who exactly is this guy?

According to his bio he is a partner with a PR & Marketing in Cork and Dublin firm, called Fuzion. If you have any interest in this guy having had a peep at his profile you might follow him back. Why did he follow you and what is the value of the connection- is he just “collecting numbers” for vanity sake?

I try a little test when people connect with me by asking a simple question – “Hi Greg, thanks for connecting, how is everything in your world?”

On Twitter, nine times out of ten I don’t get a response – they are either rude or just in a game of boosting their numbers. Worthwhile connection? – mostly not.

Greg Canty wants to connect with you on LinkedIn – Great, that’s another connection and your numbers are building. Who exactly is this guy?

According to his quite detailed bio I can see what he does, where he works now and where he worked in the past, I see links to his website, his recent comments and his other connections. He looks interesting so you decide to connect with him. Why did he follow you and what is the value of the connection – is he just “collecting numbers” for vanity sake?

I try a little test when people connect with me and ask a simple question – “Hi Greg, thanks for connecting , how is business with you?”

On LinkedIn, nine times out of ten I do get a response – quickly you get a sense of why they wanted to connect with you. Worthwhile connection? – mostly.

These are generalisations but from my own experience the quality of your LinkedIn connections are much better, which says a lot about the platform. This is not to say that Twitter connections are worthless, but many of them seem to have very little depth. On LinkedIn the platform makes you jump a few hoops before it allows you to request a connection, which does preserve the quality to some degree.

You can find a “gem” of a connection on any platform but as with everything else in life if it’s too easy then it probably isn’t worth as much. The real magic starts when you start communicating openly with these connections and get a chance to show them who you are and what you do and vice versa.